


things come in threes

by basicallyiwriteshit



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Gen, Getting Together, Guardian Angel!Yamaguchi, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Suicide Attempt, Trauma, Yamaguchi Tadashi-centric, angel au, future violence, tw attempted suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:59:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27964928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basicallyiwriteshit/pseuds/basicallyiwriteshit
Summary: Tsukishima Kei's guardian angel has used all 3 of his chances to save his life; but when Kei's life is threatened a 4th time, 4327 (aka Yamaguchi Tadashi) breaks all of heaven's rules to save Kei and finds himself in a strange situation. He's trapped in the body of one of Kei's classmates, and has no idea how to turn back into an angel- that is, if he even wants to.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, first year friendships - Relationship
Comments: 12
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Starting a fic when I already have 3 unfinished fics and 2 AUS I never update on here? More likely than you think. 
> 
> To clarify: In this AU it isn't exactly western Catholicism that I'm working with. I've created my own twist on it, mainly for creative purposes but also bc I'm not catholic and don't feel like learning about the religion for a fic. So, here's a little key for this fic: 
> 
> The Director: Think of God. But like 10 times meaner to the angels and with skewed, unknown morals.   
> The Divine/Holy Office: Heaven. A glass sphere around earth where angels overlook earth.   
> Angels: Come in two categories; guardian and general. Guardian angels get 3 chances to save their charge's life before they just have to allow fate to run its course. Once their charge dies they are assigned a new human. Once they're assigned a new human, they have no memory of the old one. (Note: Angels do not have names, and are assigned numbers instead; hence why Yamaguchi starts off the fic being called 4327.) 
> 
> TW for the chapter, there is mentions of suicide attempts from both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and they will likely be discussed later in the fic.

"4327, you're already at your limit! Stop right now." The Director's voice echoes through all realities as 4327 is frozen in place by their order. No one can resist The Director. Even if one _wanted_ to, their power is too strong. There's no fighting back.

"I-- No, please, Director I know the limit is only three, but- but--"

The gunman is getting closer. His human, they- they have those listening devices, headphones, on and they won't notice in time. 4327 feels white-hot dread wash over his body as he watches, tears in his eyes. An invisible source holds him in place, and he struggles against it to no avail. He sobs as he sees the gunman round the corner, just meters away from his human, when--

When.

Three; that’s how many times guardian angels get to warn their humans about their mortality. 4327 has used all three of his warnings. The first time, Tsukishima Kei was 9 years old and there was a small fire in his parent’s bedroom-- 4327 woke him, and Kei was able to rush to his brother’s room and escape. Kei loses his parents in the fire, but 4327 considers the mission a win. His human is okay. He’s safe. The second time he used a warning, Kei was 17 and about to go out to a party. 4327 foresaw him getting drugged and collapsing on the walk home, hitting his head. The third...

The third time, 4327 had to save Kei from himself. That was just two years ago, when he was 19. He’s going to university now. He has a job, that he’ll be getting promoted at when he graduates in a year. He has so much to live for. 

He can’t let Kei die. He just _can’t_. 

4327 has always, _always_ followed the rules. With all of his other subjects, he’s listened to The Director with a resigned almost-boredom. The life of a guardian angel is full of loss, but they get used to it. But Tsukishima Kei is different. Kei needs to stay alive. 4327 doesn’t know why, but he will do anything to save him. Even disobey his direct superior. 

**“ _No!_ ”**

The shattering of the glass that makes up The Divine Office is unexpected, and the last thing 4327 sees before he blacks out is flashing lights. 

When 4327 awakens, he expects to see hellfire. 

_He shattered The Divine Office, he destroyed all things heavenly and holy, and-- and-- there should be death, destruction! There should be people screaming on the streets and all of the evils should be roaming free, but-- there’s nothing. There’s **nothing**. _

Instead, he finds himself on a beach. 

First he hears the waves crashing against the shore, then the seagulls cawing overhead. It’s peaceful. He doesn’t want to open his eyes to the dim evening light. The sand beneath him feels strange, considering he’s only ever really felt the glassy floors of The Divine Office beneath him, but it isn’t unpleasant. 

Maybe he didn’t shatter The Divine Office. Maybe he’s been dismantled. All angels who disobey get dismantled. If this is what it feels like, 4327 doesn’t actually mind all that much; it’s...relaxing. 

But then the shrill, loud cry of a seagull makes him flinch and it all floods back to him as he remembers what he was doing before The Shattering. 

_Kei is still in danger._

4327 stands quickly, eyes wide, breath heaving as he rushes off the beach. 4327 passes a handful of humans, but he pays them no mind, instead continuing to run. He knows where Kei is. The mugger is almost there. He tries to focus on his memories as he runs through the streets; when the wind stings at his eyes, he takes a moment to blink and then suddenly he’s _right behind Kei_ and there’s the mugger, pointing his gun directly at his back, and--

_Bam!_

4327 takes the bullet before Kei even turns around, and he crumbles to the ground. The mugger is startled by the sudden arrival of another person and drops the gun, cursing loudly, before rushing off in the other direction. 43237 begins to feel his legs going numb. Kei is by his side with wide eyes, one hand clutching a cellphone to his ear and the other hovering over his chest hesitantly. He looks Tadashi in the eye and asks something in english, but 4327 doesn’t understand, so he just smiles and nods as his vision goes dark again. 

He would’ve done anything to hear Kei’s voice before he died. 

He’s just glad he’s safe. 

_“It’s just a trip, Aki-nii, it’s not like I’m going to die.” Kei grumbles, still shoving clothes in his bag despite his brother’s protests. He looks and sounds distressed as he stands in his brother’s doorway, pleading.  
_

_“Kei, please think about this. You didn’t plan anything, you hardly know the language! What are you thinking?”  
_

_“I’m not, really,” Kei says with a shrug. “It’s just a week.”  
_

_“I just don’t know how I feel about you going off to a foreign country all by yourself, Kei. Especially so close to you starting your new job.”  
_

_Groaning, Kei turns to his brother. "When I get back from America, I’ll still have a week before I start working at the museum Aki-nii. If you don’t want to water my plants, that’s fine. I’ll ask Yachior someone else.”_

_Akiteru deflates, leaning his head against the door frame._

_“I worry about you, Kei.”_

_“I’m just going to see a volleyball match with those freak idiots, and maybe go see Disney while we’re there. Otherwise I probably won’t even leave my hotel room. I probably won’t see those idiots for a while after this, so I-- I wanna go.” Mumbles Kei. He feels almost guilty, seeing his bother’s face, but he’s still made up his mind; he knows Akiteru knows that. Akiteru smiles at him gently._

_“Alright, I’ll water the plants. But I want a souvenir of some sort, if you’re really going through with this.”  
_

_Kei rolls his eyes, but he gives him a thumbs up before he continues to pack the bare essentials for the trip._

_As he zips up his suitcase and calls a cab, he feels something in the pit of his stomach telling him to stop but he ignores it in favor of hugging Akiteru and promising to be home next week._

Now Kei is regretting his decision. As he sits on a bench near where he was saved, physically unharmed but still rather shaken by what happened, he thinks he should’ve listened to Akiteru. Listened to his _gut_. But he really had missed Kageyama and Hinata, as much as he doesn’t like to admit. Now _he’s the reason someone is dead_. 

That brunette that saved him, _the look in his eyes as the life left them_...Kei feels sick to his stomach just thinking about it, and he leans over the side of the bench and throws up. Police have already interviewed him and are waiting near the body bag for the coroner to take it away, so now Kei is alone in waiting for Hinata and Kageyama to come get him. He doesn’t think he could be alone right now if he wanted to, and so they’ve checked out of their own hotel room to spend their last night in America in Kei’s. 

“Tsukishima! Tsukki, hey!” Heart racing, Kei lifts his head, still half retching and sees a police officer leading Hinata and Kageyama in his direction, a brightly colored japanese-to-english dictionary in Hinata’s hand. Kei stands weakly, knees wobbling, and he uses his hand to hold himself up as he waits. 

“Thank goodness you’re okay!” Hinata yells, launching himself at Kei, who just takes the hug begrudgingly. He can’t find it in him to push him away. He can barely _stand_. “You _are_ okay, right? No one’s been messing with you since it happened?” 

“I--” Kei swallows thickly, his throat tight. With the position Hinata jostled him into, he can see the black tarp covering the body of the person who saved him. It’s dark now, but the more Kei stares the more he can imagine red, hot blood seeping through it and on the ground around the body. Nothing like that happens, though, and Hinata’s voice slowly turns to static as he leads Kei back to the hotel. 

\- 

4327 awakens again in a hospital bed. He assumes he’s still in america, but when his nurse comes in, her name tag is in kanji and then he looks around he realizes he can actually read and understand the words written on his medical chart. The nurse smiles at him and talks in low tones, telling him she’ll get the doctor right away, and _“I’ll notify your family that you’re awake, Yamaguchi-san!”_ Which-- _what_? 

He goes to reach up and finds he can’t move his arms. His arms are tied down to the bed. He tries to speak but nearly chokes on the tube shoved into his throat and he panics even more, pulling at the restraints even harder. _Is this his punishment now_? He got to save Kei, but The Director is going to-- to torture him? No, no he needs-- where even _is_ he? He died, he _knows_ he died. 

The beeping of a heart monitor - _-his heart monitor_ \-- catches the attention of a different nurse, and she rushes in, shouting for a doctor and other nurses to come in. She grabs something from a cart that’s being pushed in, and pushes it into a tube connected to an IV, which he vaguely realizes is connected to him, while practically shouting at him over his panicked noises to calm down. She tells him that the doctor will take the breathing tube out in just a moment. Whatever she’s pushing into his IV sends a wash of fatigue through his veins and he slumps against the sheets with a whimper, trying and failing to keep his body moving. A doctor has the nurse steady his head and gently removes the tube from his throat and he immediately retches and coughs as his airway opens back up. 

“Wh-- Where-- I-- What--” His voice is raspy, and through his panic he can’t actually find words. 

“Yamaguchi-san, do you remember why you’re here?” 

“I-- You--- I need untied, right now, I--” 

“Yamaguchi-san, you’ve been deemed a danger to yourself which is why you are restrained. You need to answer our questions, okay?” 

A danger to himself? Why does the doctor keep calling him Yamaguchi-san? He’s-- He doesn’t have a name. 

“Yamaguchi-san, do you remember why you’re here?” 

He shakes his head. “I-- I was...” 

A woman and a man rushing in interrupts 4327′s answer, and his breath leaves him once again as the woman wraps her arms tightly around him. “Tadashi? Tadashi, baby are you alright?!” 

“Mrs. Yamaguchi, please be gentle, his vitals are only just rising again.” The doctor warns, and the woman pulls away, her hands gripping 4327′s shoulders. 

“Do you know how worried we were for you? Oh, I thought we were getting better! I’m so sorry Tadashi!” 

“Better? I-- What’s going on?” His question halts the sudden flurry of conversation in the room, and all eyes are on him. The doctor has a frown on her face. 

“You...Don’t remember your suicide attempt, Yamaguchi-san?” 

“Suicide attempt?!” 4327 thinks he might be sick. What are they talking about? 

“You...A month and a half ago, you were found by your mother in your bedroom. You were-- Uh-- Perhaps it’s best not to throw so much information at you all at once. We’ll leave you to rest. Mrs. Yamaguchi, can we please speak outside?” 

The woman nods, and the man doesn’t even look his way at they step out of the room. The nurse hesitates a moment, before removing the restraints holding his arms to the bed. Then she’s gone as well. 

4327 immediately draws his arms to his chest, the medication in his IV still making his limbs heavy. He’s somehow exhausted and full of adrenaline all in one. A book and a cellphone sit on the bedsite table beside him, and on the other side of the bed against the wall is a monstrously large gathering of balloons, flowers, and stuffed animals. 4327 grabs the phone, and when he turns the screen on finds it as he expects it: locked. There’s a picture of a small group of people as the lock screen, all smiling with cups of coffee. Three boys and a girl. The girl, short and blonde, has a peace sign up; as does the ginger next to her. There’s a sheepish looking brunette in the photo, with freckled tan skin and a pale boy with dark hair who looks like he’s trying hard not to look scary as he smiles with the group. It takes a moment to click, but when it does he’s filled with even more confusion-- 

The ginger and that dark haired boy...look a lot like Kei’s friends from volleyball. 

But the other boy in the picture isn’t Kei. 

So...

4327 finds the camera on the lock screen and when he flicks it, a face pops on the screen. Freckles dot the human’s skin, which is much paler now than in the picture. Green eyes with dark circles roam the rest of the screen as 4327 looks at the messy dark hair atop the human’s head. He looks similar to 4327′s angelic form, it it were to be simplified, and yet he’s unfamiliar to 4327. With a sigh, he locks the phone screen again and drops it to his lap. 

Who the hell is Yamaguchi Tadashi? And why is 4327 suddenly in his body when he should be dead? 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for mentions of a suicide attempt in this one! From the line "There was a break," to the line "There are no memories after this." Is a recount of the suicide attempt that landed Yamaguchi in the hospital in the last chapter. It's not graphic, I don't think, but it does talk about his mother finding him.

"Tell me about that day again. Take me back to it."

Kei's gaze stays fixed on his hands, which are folded neatly in his lap, as annoyance pricks up his spine. "I don't see why talking about it again is going to do anything. It's not like I can change it now or anything."

"I'm just trying to pinpoint the cause of the most recent nightmare, Tsukishima. Even with the trauma you faced that night, this seems to be a new development-- and completely irrelevant to that event."

His therapist is actually a practicing med school student, a volunteer at Kei's university who offers free sessions as "practice" for his degree; Kei doesn't understand how that's allowed, or how this man will have a job eventually, but everyone starts somewhere or something. At least, that's what Akiteru says.

He sighs. "Look. We've talked about it enough, it's in your notes for every session. In the three months since it's happened, I can't remember anything else, okay?"

The nightmares are new. And they're annoying, more than terrifying- which is saying something. Since the incident in America, Kei hasn’t had a good night’s rest. He’ll be able to sleep some, but as soon as his REM cycle hits he’s thrown back into the horror of that night. 

“Try.” His therapist says. Kei sighs again. 

“If I knew you’d make me do this again, I wouldn’t have come today.” He says. “But fine. Everything happened so fast, anyway.” 

It really did happen fast. Kei doesn’t wear his headphones out in public anymore, after it. After all, the only thing he heard was the gunshot. He didn’t hear the person stalking behind him, nor did he hear the stranger that saved him. 

“I remember walking. I couldn’t find the restaurant my friends wanted to eat at, and google maps took me through an alleyway. I had music on. I didn’t think I was in danger, thought all of the violence in America was just an exaggeration. I didn’t hear anything until the gunshot, and when I turned around there he was.” 

There was so much blood. Kei’s never seen a gun or a gunshot wound before, but he’s seen TV. He didn’t think there was a way someone could die so quickly from a gunshot, but as Kei put pressure on the wound and used his limited english to ask the man what their emergency number is, he-- 

“That’s all I remember. The cops showed up somehow. It took like an hour to get them to find a someone who understood Japanese enough to translate my statement, and another hour for them to clear me to leave with Hinata and Kageyama. The rest of the trip was a blur.” 

His therapist clucks his tongue, frowning. His eyes are trained on Kei’s hands, which he only now realizes he’s twisting nervously instead of keeping them crossed in his lap. He stops immediately. 

“So what do you think is connecting the nightmare to this event? The flashing lights from the police vehicles? The fear that it could have been you?” 

...Right. The nightmare. More recently,. Instead of just replaying the scene in his head over and over again, he sees-- sees _glass_ , shattering. Hears the screams of thousands of people as pale light flashes rapidly, reflecting off of the glas shards dizzyingly. Then, among the disaster, he sees the man who saved him, except...distorted. Light shines around his form, angel-like, and golden veins run up his body, highlighting pale, blind eyes on freckled, hollow cheeks. Wild dark curls seem to defy gravity. His savior reaches out and calls his name before the dream fades into only flashing lights and then eventually wakefulness. 

“Tsukishima?” 

“Huh?” He looks up, finds his therapist staring at him with concern. “What?” 

“You were...out of it for a minute. What do you think is connecting these events to the incident?” 

Just like that, any prickling fear at remembering the nightmare, or the incident itself, melts into annoyance and his eye twitches. He stands. 

“Alright, I think if you’re gonna ask me the same question over and over we can be done for the day. I think I’ll make another appointment when you actually _graduate_ , if that ever _happens_ , because you’re clearly not getting any experience from me.” 

-

Even after being released from the hospital, 4327 has no idea what's going on or who Yamaguchi Tadashi is. Yamaguchi's mother, the woman who was in his hospital room the evening he awoke, takes him home a week after he wakes up; the doctors had done extensive testing, and claimed extensive memory loss-- his brain is simply blocking out Yamaguchi’s “memories” of anything before waking up. No memory of the trauma leading up to extensive enough that, even after a suicide attempt, they’ve decided he’s no harm to himself. 

And of course he’s not a danger to himself! Because he’s not Yamaguchi! 

The man at the hospital with his mother is too young to be a father, and is apparently not a brother, either. His name is Shimada Makoto, Yamaguchi’s mentor and-- boss?.. 4327 is still trying to process everything. All he knows is that, even though Shimada does not live with the Yamaguchis, he’s at their apartment regularly enough for his (Yamaguchi’s) mother to leave a plate out just in case. It seems as though both of the older adults are treading lightly with him, only providing information if 4327 asks. He doesn’t ask. He’s too busy trying to figure out what kind of games The Director is playing on him. 

Yamaguchi’s mom sends him to therapy once a week. Here, he learns a lot about Yamaguchi-- which he supposes is good, if he’s going to be borrowing the kid’s body for the time being. 

“So!” A thick manila folder slams onto the desk in front of him, and 4327 startles. His therapist, a younger man with an excitable personality, slides into the rolling desk chair on the other side. “We’re working on memory retrieval today, Yamaguchi-kun! Still no development on your own?” 

“I-- No, Nakamura-san...” 

The man’s features shift to a fascinated grin, and he nods, opening the folder and writing something down on one of the last pages. “It is just so fascinating that you aren’t making progress unless you’re pushed. Why do you think that, Yamaguchi-kun?” 

Tadashi is one of Nakamura’s first clients, let alone his first memory loss case, and for some reason his excitement to pick apart his brain makes 4327 unreasonably angry. He squashes that emotion down quickly, because anger is not befitting of an angel, and instead he shrugs, giving Nakamura a bored look. 

“I don’t know, really, the memories just...don’t come.” 

“Hmm,” Nakamura hums, tapping his pen on his chin. “I have a theory, but I’m not going to say it just yet. Let’s just work on memory retrieval for now.” 

He makes another note before he flips to the beginning of the folder. 

“So, tell me what you remember from previous sessions about your life.” 

In the weeks he’s been attending therapy, beginning from birth until now, here is a list of things 4327 has learned about Yamaguchi Tadashi through information provided to Nakamura-san by his mother: 

Tadashi’s birthday is November 10th. He is currently 21, and because of his latest suicide attempt will be unable to finish his last year of college. 

Tadashi’s mother and father divorced when he was young, and two years later his father took him away from his mother for four years before their custody agreement settled and they had to split custody. Tadashi never talked about his time with his father all those years with his mother, and so the memories -good or bad- don’t exist in his mind. 

When Tadashi’s father died when he was 10 years old, many of his classmates began to pick on him for it; then, when they ran out of dead dad jokes they moved to his looks, his personality. He was bullied for the rest of elementary school and most of middle school. 

Because of the bullying, Tadashi develops severe self image issues, and falls deep into depression and anxiety. He only leaves the house for school. He has no friends. 

By time he’s 15, he’s attempted suicide two times.

When he joined high school, he wanted to join the volleyball team but was too intimidated and instead focused on school. He was the top of his college prep classes, regularly competing with a classmate his mother can’t remember the name of. 

He meets Shimada Makoto when he’s looking for a job to take up some time in the evening. They almost instantly connect, and Shimada is like the brother he never had. He works until close with Shimada, and walks home each night with a homecooked meal from Shimada’s mother, who insists he’s too skinny for his own good. 

Shimada becomes a regular staple in the Yamaguchi household, and helps Tadashi’s mother with household chores. He takes care of Tadashi when he’s sick by bringing him some soup, because Tadashi’s mother, try as she might, is not the best cook. 

Tadashi becomes close friends with Hinata Shouyou and Kageyama Tobio, and through them Yachi Hitoka. He and Yachi would tutor them. 

Slowly, he breaks out of his shell and begins to feel happy. 

He has a dog. He got her as a birthday present when he was 17, in his last year of high school. “So you come visit mom when you’re off at college. And So I won’t be lonely.” 

Her name is Honey. 

When Tadashi enters college is where things begin to get less concrete, because his mother wasn’t there for those events; he knows he’s an engineering major, he was interning at a company before his attempt, and was set to get a promotion when he graduated. He was always happy on the phone to his mother, but she could tell he was stressed out through his voice. He had a roommate. He talked regularly about Hinata and Kageyama and their ventures at their different colleges (they were set to start on the national team soon). 

There was a break, and Tadashi had come home upset already over something- a bad grade, a fight with the roommate, something Tadashi’s mother didn’t really hear about because he went straight to his room. 

He spends the weekend at home, hardly leaving his room let alone the apartment. His mother had worried, but figured it was okay to let him feel stress and relax over break instead of back at school where he didn't have the same support system. She goes out one night, and when she comes back...

Tadashi’s third suicide attempt happens the night before he’s meant to return to university to finish his last semester. His mother returns from her party, finds the house eerily silent and Honey whining in front of Tadashi’s bedroom door. She opens the door and finds Tadashi’s limp form, hanging from the ceiling by a rope made from his school ties. 

There are no more memories after this. 

That's when 4327 woke up in his body, a month and a half after his suicide attempt. And 4327 still has no idea why. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know how you feel in the comments! I have a general idea of how I want the story to end, and some plot points I'd like to hit, but I'm otherwise kind of just winging it. I hope you enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Well. Here's to the next one, whenever that may come. Leave a comment on how you feel about this AU?


End file.
